PROJECT IN PHYSICS II

Submitted By: Kriztian Eris E. Labatete

What is Power Plant

A power plant or a power generating station, is basically an industrial location that is

utilized for the generation and distribution of electric power in mass scale, usually in the

order of several 1000 Watts. These are generally located at the sub-urban regions or

several kilometers away from the cities or the load centers, because of its requisites like

huge land and water demand, along with several operating constraints like the waste

disposal etc. For this reason, a power generating station has to not only take care of

efficient generation but also the fact that the power is transmitted efficiently over the

entire distance. And thats why, the transformer switch yard to regulate

transmission voltage also becomes an integral part of the power plant.

At the center of it, however, nearly all power generating stations has an AC generator or

an alternator, which is basically a rotating machine that is equipped to convert energy

from the mechanical domain (rotating turbine) into electrical domain by creating relative

motion between a magnetic field and the conductors. The energy source harnessed to turn

the generator shaft varies widely, and is chiefly dependent on the type of fuel used.

Types of Power Station

A power plant can be of several types depending mainly on the type of fuel used. Since

for the purpose of bulk power generation, only thermal, nuclear and hydro power comes

handy, therefore a power generating station can be broadly classified in the 3 above

mentioned types. Let us have a look in these types of power stations in details.

Thermal Power Station

 A thermal power station or a coal fired thermal power plant is by far, the most

conventional method of generating electric power with reasonably high efficiency. It uses

coal as the primary fuel to boil the water available to superheated steam for driving

the steam turbine. The steam turbine is then mechanically coupled to an alternator rotor,

the rotation of which results in the generation of electric power. Generally in India,

bituminous coal or brown coal are used as fuel of boiler which has volatile content

ranging from 8 to 33 % and ash content 5 to 16 %. To enhance the thermal efficiency of

the plant, the coal is used in the boiler in its pulverized form. In coal fired thermal power

plant, steam is obtained in very high pressure inside the steam boiler by burning the

pulverized coal. This steam is then super heated in the super heater to extreme high

temperature. This super heated steam is then allowed to enter into the turbine, as the

turbine blades are rotated by the pressure of the steam. The turbine is mechanically

coupled with alternator in a way that its rotor will rotate with the rotation of turbine

blades. After entering into the turbine, the steam pressure suddenly falls leading to

corresponding increase in the steam volume. After having imparted energy into the

turbine rotors, the steam is made to pass out of the turbine blades into the steam

condenser of turbine. In the condenser, cold water at ambient temperature is circulated

with the help of pump which leads to the condensation of the low pressure wet steam.

Then this condensed water is further supplied to low pressure water heater where the low

pressure steam increases the temperature of this feed water, it is again heated in high

pressure. This outlines the basic working methodology of a thermal power plant.

Advantages of Thermal Power Plants

o Fuel used i.e coal is quite cheaper.

 o Initial cost is less as compared to other generating stations.
o It requires less space as compared to hydro-electric power stations.

Disadvantages of Thermal Power Plants

o It pollutes atmosphere due to production of smoke & fumes.

o Running cost of the power plant is more than hydro electric plant.

Nuclear Power Station

The nuclear power generating stations are similar to the thermal stations in more ways

than one. How ever, the exception here is that, radioactive elements like uranium and

thorium are used as the primary fuel in place of coal. Also in a Nuclear station the furnace

and the boiler are replaced by the nuclear reactor and the heat exchanger tubes. For the

process of nuclear power generation, the radioactive fuels are made to undergo fission

reaction within the nuclear reactors. The fission reaction, propagates like a controlled

chain reaction and is accompanied by unprecedented amount of energy produced, which

is manifested in the form of heat. This heat is then transferred to the water present in the

heat exchanger tubes. As a result, super heated steam at very high temperature is

produced. Once the process of steam formation is accomplished, the remaining process is
 exactly similar to a thermal power plant, as this steam will further drive the turbine blades

to generate electricity.

Hydro-Electric Power Station

In Hydro-electric plants the energy of the falling water is utilized to drive the turbine

which in turn runs the generator to produce electricity. Rain falling upon the earths

surface has potential energy relative to the oceans towards which it flows. This energy is

converted to shaft work where the water falls through an appreciable vertical distance.

The hydraulic power is therefore a naturally available renewable energy given by the eqn:

P = g QH Where, g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/sec 2 = density of water =

1000 kg/m 3H = height of fall of water. This power is utilized for rotating the alternator

shaft, to convert it to equivalent electrical energy. An important point to be noted is that,

the hydro-electric plants are of much lower capacity compared to their thermal or nuclear

counterpart. For this reason hydro plants are generally used in scheduling with thermal

stations, to serve the load during peak hours. They in a way assist the thermal or the

nuclear plant to deliver power efficiently during periods of peak hours.

Advantages of Hydro Electric Power Station

o It requires no fuel , water is used for generation of electrical energy.

o It is neat and clean energy generation.
o Construction is simple , less maintenance is required.
o It helps in irrigation and flood control also.

Disadvantages Hydro Electric Power Station

o It involves high capital cost due to dam construction.

o Availability of water depends upon weather conditions.
o It requires high transmission cost as the plant is located in hilly areas.
Types of Power Generation

As mentioned above, depending on the type of fuel used, the power generating stations as

well as the types of power generation are classified. Therefore the 3 major classifications

for power production in reasonably large scale are :-

1. Thermal power generation.
2. Nuclear power generation.
3. Hydro-electric power generation.
Apart from these major types of power generations, we can resort to small scale

generation techniques as well, to serve the discrete demands. These are often referred to

as the alternative methods or non conventional energy of power generation and can be

classified as :-
1. Solar power generation. (making use of the available solar energy)
2. Geo-thermal power generation. (Energy available in the Earths crust)
3. Tidal power generation.
4. Wind power generation ( energy available from the wind turbines)
These alternative sources of generation has been given due importance in the last few

decades owing to the depleting amount of the natural fuels available to us. In the

centuries to come, a stage might be reached when several countries across the globe

would run out of their entire reserve for fossil fuels. The only way forward would then lie

in the mercy of these alternative sources of energy which might play an instrumental role

in shaping the energy supplies of the future. For this reason these might rightfully be

referred as the energy of the future.